The Truce
by Tiggy the Hopeless Romantic
Summary: Elphaba and Galinda are forced to cooperate one afternoon, before they become friends. Oneshot.


Galinda Upland ran into the dorm room she reluctantly shared with Elphaba Thropp looking perturbed. "Miss Elphaba!" Elphaba didn't bat an eye, merely ate one of the grapes from the bunch that sat next to her bed and flipped a page in her book. "Miss Elphaba! Miss Elphaba, really, what if I ran in here to tell you the building was on fire?"

"You wouldn't bother running to get me if the building was on fire. You would run outside, with your friends. Don't blame you for it, I wouldn't be particularly concerned about you, either," Elphaba placed a bookmark in her book and sat it down. "I'm assuming the building isn't on fire?"

"Well no, but what I have to tell you could be just as bad! Madame Morrible is intent on doing a room inspection. This afternoon."

Elphaba frowned. "Well, our room is clean. Why are you worried?" In truth it was. The shelves were neat, the beds were made, the desks were tidy. Galinda gave the closet a significant look. Elphaba's eyes widened. "No! She can't go through our closet... that's personal property."

"No, it's school property. And who can say no to Morrible?"

Elphaba fidgeted a little and climbed off of her bed and placed a green hand on the closet door. "Well, so what if it's messy..." In truth she was nervous. For whatever reason, Madame Morrible was fond of her. Elphaba had no desire to do something that would take her out of her teacher's good graces.

Galinda, on the other hand was not in Madame Morrible's good graces, and very much wanted to be. She pushed past the taller girl and shoved the closet door open, squeezing her eyes shut, hoping it would cause the mess to disapear. She opened one eye and pouted. It did not work. "Miss Elphaba, our closet is practically grounds for expulsion!"

Both girls were perfectionists. Elphaba couldn't focus when she was in a cluttered room and was prone to cleaning when she was tired. Galinda was determined to be perfect in every visible way, and wanted her room to match(even if her roommate didn't). Both of them operated under a sense of 'Out of site, out of mind'. The closet door was closed shut on the chaos held inside and both were content to not think about their mutually created mess.

"We have to get started, don't we?" Elphaba said as a flood of clothing rushed at her. A bit of blue fabric landed at her feet.

"We should have gotten started a week ago!" The set to it. They paired shoes. Alphabetized books. Hung up clothes. Organized purses and handbags. "Has their always been carpet in our closet?"

"I don't know," Elphaba said.

They heard a knock on the door then, accompanied by a "Girls? It's Madame Morrible. Can I come in?"

They exchanged a look of horror. "Just a minute, Madame!" Elphaba yelled, then added in a voice so sickeningly sweet that she refused to believe it was hers, "I mean, one moment, please." As quickly as they could, they organized the last of it. Galinda hurled herself at her bed, at the far side of the room. Elphaba nearly shut the closet door when she realized there was a hot pink ribbon the floor. Desperate, she tied it around her braid as she shut the door and then let the Head in. "Hello, Madame," she said.

Galinda added, "Now, isn't this a pleasant surprise! Miss Elphaba, isn't it a pleasant _surprise _that Madame visited us?"

Although she wanted to roll her eyes, she suppressed the urge. "Of course it is."

"Unfortunately girls, this is more than a social call... Galinda, dear are you alright? You're sweating," Morrible said.

"Oh, it's rather warm in here, isn't it?"

Morrible blinked. It was barely fifty degrees outside. Not cold, but not toasty either. "I suppose... Anyway, I'm just checking to make sure that all of my girls are keeping their rooms in proper order. Everything seems fine out here... let me go check the closet," the girls exchanged a nervous glance. Morrible didn't bat an eye at the now pristine closet. "Lovely, ladies. Keep everything as nice as it is... Oh, Miss Elphaba, really that pink isn't your color. Perhaps a purple would be better suited to your... complexion."

Blushing Elphaba tore the ribbon from her hair. "Of course."

"Anyway, I must be going... have a nice day ladies."

Once the door was shut behind her, the girls shared a laugh. "Miss Elphaba, it looks like we actually worked pretty well together, when we had to," said Galinda as she collapsed onto her bed, giggling.

Elphaba brushed the dust off of her skirt and stood up from her bed. As she closed the closet's door, she smiled. "It does look that way, doesn't it?" She sat down on her own bed. "But Miss Galinda?"

"Yes?"

"We never speak of this moment again."

"Of course not." And the afternoon long truce ended.


End file.
